Control Issues
Pick only two scenario below and decide what your reaction as a project manager would be in the situation you chose. Relate your response to the course readings/lectures or any articles linked by any of your classmates in discussions to date.
Post your discussion here. (Do not attach a file)
Scenario 1
One month prior to the delivery of a new patient billing system to your hospital system, the customer account manager proposed including an upgraded e-Mail receipt capability recently developed — at no additional cost to the customer. The change is expected to require additional development and test resources, but according to the account manager, will help “build a relationship” with the customer.
As project manager, what is your response?
Scenario 2
Your project is to get caramel apples to a client by the end of September in time for the Halloween rush. Your company is responsible for acquiring the apples, coating them in candy or caramel, and delivering them to the client. An apple vendor mismanaged its sanitation procedures, causing a listeria outbreak among 1/4 of your supply (you would never be so foolish as to rely on a single vendor). The other vendors are willing to supply the difference, but this may cause a delay in order fulfillment if you wait for all the batches to run before delivering to the client. Cost overruns are going to occur, and you have the choice to pass those costs on to the client.
As project manager, what is your response to the customer?
Scenario 3
An online bookstore is scheduled for launch in mid-May. The original target date was mid-April, but the client was late in providing the original data, the data was of poor quality, and several significant enhancements have been added to the site. In addition, a deposit was taken for the web work, but the work performed is well over twice that amount, and the client’s credit status is somewhat shaky. The client calls daily about the project, and if it is not completed soon (it is early May), the store risks losing its important sales for summer vacation reading.
As project manager for the Website development firm, what do you say to the client?